قلب: لغة برمجة

قلب is a programming language exploring the role of human culture in coding. Code is written entirely in Arabic, highlighting cultural biases of computer science and challenging the assumptions we make about programming. It is implemented as a tree-walking language interpreter in JavsScript.

All modern programming tools are based on the ASCII character set, which encodes Latin Characters and was originally based on the English Language. As a result, programming has become tied to a single written culture. It carries with it a cultural bias that favors those who grew up reading and writing in that cultural. قلب explores and challenges that by presenting a language that deviates almost entirely from ASCII.

In addition to the language and its interpreter, the قلب project includes a calligraphy series. Traditional Computer Science algorithms are implemented in قلب, and the resulting Arabic source code is used as the content of calligraphy pieces, in effect treating the algorithms as high poetry. The traditions of the Arabs merge seamlessly with the traditions of the hackers, bridging millenia of creative practice. The three pieces completed for the 2013 Artist Showcase were Hello World, Fibonacci, and Conway’s Game of Life, and were all done in the Square Kufic style.